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carlysrose
Guest
“God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
Doesn’t this mean that we don’t actually have to go to Mass?
Doesn’t this mean that we don’t actually have to go to Mass?
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Mark1124
Guest
No, it means that when we are at Mass we must “worship in spirit and truth” instead of merely being physically present.
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Gaber
Guest
If you have aggred in person or by proxy you agree with, to be Catholic, then yes, you are bound to go to Mass. Some of us who know we are never out of “Church” have a looser interpretation of that.
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carlysrose
Guest
There is no physical room for our spirit.
Awe is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and we can worship that way, for example, every hour. Without spending an hour in mass and paying for it.
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TS_Aquinas
Guest
There’s no physical room for something that is not physical… are we deliberately trying not to make sense here or are you taking us for fools?
Define for us your interpretation of “worship,” that seems to be the problem here.
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Ubenedictus
Guest
uh…what? What do u mean by a ‘physical room for the spirit’? Is your spirit physical? Yeah you certainly can worship that way through out the day, heck i can praise God through out the day if i can put my heart to it but i wont have his life given body and blood and a community of believers to share with. It reminds me of a passage i think in acts 2 towards the end i remember it only vaguely, i think it say ‘the believers were united and share thing in common…attending the temple together and breaking bread’. Doing thing together and breaking bread seem to be very important in the early church i think it was the principal act of worship for the xtain community. No one pays for the mass. Where did you get this idea? I hope you are not trying to offend.
Ubenedictus
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carlysrose
Guest
Kneeling and being forced to pray a certain way, for example.
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Alberti_Devoveo
Guest
Jesus commanded us at the Last Supper, “Do this in remembrance of me.” (cf Luke 22:19). It was not “Do this occasionally in remembrance of me.” or “Do something else than this to remember me.” We are commanded, by Jesus, to appear at the re-presentation of the Last Supper on a regular basis.
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TS_Aquinas
Guest
If you’re not in Mass, what are you kneeling to? Air? A wall? In Mass, we kneel to the corporeal presence of Christ in the Eucharist, of which that corporeal act of worship cannot be repeated outside the presence. There are two ways to worship, and both must be fulfilled, the exterior way and interior way. Exterior by way of expression through the body which involves the senses and physical display of adoration. Interior by way of “spirit and truth” in the mind, where the person adores God by exercising his/her intellect and will and through this the heart follows.
[BIBLEDRB]Matt 22:37[/BIBLEDRB]
As a human being we are a composite of form/matter, where our soul is the form and the matter is the body. To truly follow this commandment, with our whole soul, one is to express the love of God in the fullness of all faculties of one’s being. Hence we worship God visibly in Mass; the exterior signs of the body are representations of the interior signs of the soul. This is why some of us old school Catholics are trying to save and restore the Mass, and the physical state of churches, to a more holy and intense display of Christian worship.
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CHRISTINE77
Guest
Your body and soul are one while you are alive. You can’t have one without the other.
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carlysrose
Guest
Did he command us, or his apostles.
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carlysrose
Guest
I know elderly people who are more devote than probably all of you put together. And they can’t kneel.
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Justice_Mercy
Guest
This passage whee Paul instructs believers other than the Apostles regarding the Lord’s Supper is just one place where we see that “do this in remembrance of me” is not limited to the Apostles only:
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Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. Consider the people of Israel: are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar? What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?===
While private worship is good, we are also commanded to assemble for corporate worship (which includes those times of the Lord’s Supper):
Hebrews 10: 19Therefore, brothers,c since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
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jochoa
Guest
Excellent question! Please consider the following:
What is your definition of spirit?
In reference to God is spirit, I have come to understand the following definition: Spirit is image, knowledge, and past-actions.
Therefore, in order to worship Him in spirit, we must physically recreate the image, knowledge, and past-actions of Him.
The pinnacle of worship as a Church is the Mass, where:
The physical recreation of His Image is the Eucharist. This is the Body and Blood of God.
The physical recreation of His Knowledge is the Liturgy.
The physical recreation of His Past-Actions is the Last Supper, including His Crucifixion (His people offering Him as a Sacrifice for sins through the High Priest).
Regarding the question of: do we actually have to go to mass?
God gave us free will, so we don’t have to go. However, if you want to begin experiencing Heaven on earth, become one with the Spirit of God at Mass.
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Alberti_Devoveo
Guest
Both. He commanded His Apostles to re-present the Eucharistic Sacrifice and He commanded us to receive the Eucharistic Sacrifice.
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carlysrose
Guest
Well, worship is sacrifice, and I feel like I’m sacrificing my free time and sleep-in day, so I guess it makes sense…
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Ubenedictus
Guest
and nobody is forcing them to kneel. The idea of who is more devote is mute as we dont have a scale that measures devotion. Im curious where did you get the idea that catholics are ‘forced to kneel’? The old testament prescribes some praying posture and christ used some in his prayers, im surprised that you dont think any of the posture is significant.
Ubenedictus
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Ubenedictus
Guest
is this the same thing as break bread in the company of believers? It seem you just seperated public and private worship and you are choosing using an either/or scale. I doubt if the bible uses your scale.
Ubenedictus
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Maryann_C
Guest
Then you only take half of this statement and forget the most important part- truth.
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